Single Letter

HAM/1/19/6

Letter from Mary Anne Napier to Mary Hamilton

Diplomatic Text


Abbey July 8th 1769

                             Edinburgh


      By this time I fear my Dear Miʃs Hamilton will
be tempted to strike me entirely off the Civill list[1]
for being so long in her Debt for a very obligeing Letter
but I hope you know me too Well to doubt of my friend=
:d=ship
or desire to hear good Acts: of you & to know how
you all go on -- but realy this is the first attempt towards
it I've been able to make. I received yours upon the
road down & a few days after I Contracted so violent a
Cold & inflamation in my Eyes that I've been half
blind ever since & still am in the Hands of the Learned
tryeing to get Well if poʃsible -- : besides I was quite
wore out & miserable on Mary & Harriots accounts who both
were extreamly Ill all the way with feavers & Agues the
bad effects of which still sticks by them especialy Mary
for whom our Anxiety is not yet at an end -- . I was
obliged to retire for a fortnight to the Country at first
comeing down to enable me to encounter the Hurry &
bustle of Setling ourselves here -- : which is more than
we have yet been able to accomplish -- haveing a whole



House to furnish which in this part of the World is no
easy matter to do to ones mind -- besides that Receiveing &
returning Visitts & civilitys is a sort of work that leaves
one no time to do any thing else -- so that if I did not
hope it would soon come to a conclusion I should be
something more than quite tired -- . We are all much obliged
by yr kind Anxiety about us; litle Jane held out amazeingly
& continues to thrive I wish you were near enough to
shew yr Skill in the Nurseing way wt her. since yr Babil
onians
are demolisht I wish you a better Sett in their
room to be sure Ld North.ptn: has the true Antique taste -- : two
old Wives would be rather too much for one man if
his Loʃs had the least dash of Modern gout -- . has yr Pappa
heard lately from Ruʃsia? I have twice since being here
they all continue in high Health & Spiritts are much
careʃsed & of course pleas'd wt their Situation -- my Br
I find has time to write to nobody himself; but yr
Aunt
& Cousins does. Poor D: Hamilton I'm very
Sorry for; they say he was a very Aimiable Youth & would
proveably have made a fine figure in Liffe his Death
was foreseen by most people except his own familly[2] the
present Duke
is a fine Lively Healthy Boy. Yesterday Mr



Douglas
gained his Law suit against Ld Selkirk Unanimously
my Ld attempted to dispoʃseʃs him of a considerable part
of his Estate -- . we are at present all in a Bustle wt
our Races, which has collected a great deal of good
Company together -- . I wish all of you would think of
comeing amongst Us we shall ever rejoice to See you at
all times & in all places mean time I wish this may
reach you Soon -- I've given a Member some Covers to
frank for you -- not thinking it worth yr while to pay
postage for my Letters. such is the hurry I at present
live in; that though this was begun the 8th 'tis now the
20th I shall conclude it however by beging you to accept
of all our most affectionate good Wishes; we hope Mr
& Mrs Hamilton will do the same Your Cousins are
very Buʃsie in different ways but all as much
Yours as ever Adieu my Dear Miʃs Hamilton
bellieve me Ever                     Your Affectionate
                                                  & most Humble Servant
                                                              M A Napier
July 25th[3]
      My Covers are but this moment
return'd to me -- ; do write me a full Act: of Yourselves soon
in tocken you admitt my Excuse for Sillence --
once more Adieu -- Direct to me at the Abbey -- Edbr:

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Notes


 1. Mrs Napier playfully uses the phrase Civil List, normally ‘recipients of state expenditure on civil administration’, in a literal sense, perhaps ‘list of correspondents that are civil to Mary Hamilton/that Mary Hamilton is civil to’.
 2. The young duke had died only the day before, to be succeeded by his younger brother, later to become a figure of dissipation and scandal.
 3. This dateline appears to the left of the signature.

Normalised Text


Abbey July 8th 1769

                            


      By this time I fear my Dear Miss Hamilton will
be tempted to strike me entirely off the Civil list
for being so long in her Debt for a very obliging Letter
but I hope you know me too Well to doubt of my friendship
or desire to hear good Accounts of you & to know how
you all go on -- but really this is the first attempt towards
it I've been able to make. I received yours upon the
road down & a few days after I Contracted so violent a
Cold & inflammation in my Eyes that I've been half
blind ever since & still am in the Hands of the Learned
trying to get Well if possible -- : besides I was quite
worn out & miserable on Mary & Harriots accounts who both
were extremely Ill all the way with fevers & Agues the
bad effects of which still sticks by them especially Mary
for whom our Anxiety is not yet at an end -- . I was
obliged to retire for a fortnight to the Country at first
coming down to enable me to encounter the Hurry &
bustle of Settling ourselves here -- : which is more than
we have yet been able to accomplish -- having a whole



House to furnish which in this part of the World is no
easy matter to do to ones mind -- besides that Receiving &
returning Visits & civilities is a sort of work that leaves
one no time to do any thing else -- so that if I did not
hope it would soon come to a conclusion I should be
something more than quite tired -- . We are all much obliged
by your kind Anxiety about us; little Jane held out amazingly
& continues to thrive I wish you were near enough to
show your Skill in the Nursing way with her. since your Babylonians
are demolished I wish you a better Set in their
room to be sure Lord Northampton has the true Antique taste -- : two
old Wives would be rather too much for one man if
his Loss had the least dash of Modern gout -- . has your Pappa
heard lately from Russia? I have twice since being here
they all continue in high Health & Spirits are much
caressed & of course pleased with their Situation -- my Brother
I find has time to write to nobody himself; but your
Aunt & Cousins does. Poor Duke Hamilton I'm very
Sorry for; they say he was a very Amiable Youth & would
provably have made a fine figure in Life his Death
was foreseen by most people except his own family the
present Duke is a fine Lively Healthy Boy. Yesterday Mr



Douglas gained his Law suit against Lord Selkirk Unanimously
my Lord attempted to dispossess him of a considerable part
of his Estate -- . we are at present all in a Bustle with
our Races, which has collected a great deal of good
Company together -- . I wish all of you would think of
coming amongst Us we shall ever rejoice to See you at
all times & in all places mean time I wish this may
reach you Soon -- I've given a Member some Covers to
frank for you -- not thinking it worth your while to pay
postage for my Letters. such is the hurry I at present
live in; that though this was begun the 8th 'tis now the
20th I shall conclude it however by begging you to accept
of all our most affectionate good Wishes; we hope Mr
& Mrs Hamilton will do the same Your Cousins are
very Busy in different ways but all as much
Yours as ever Adieu my Dear Miss Hamilton
believe me Ever                Your Affectionate
                                            & most Humble Servant
                                                              Mary Anne Napier
July 25th
      My Covers are but this moment
returned to me -- ; do write me a full Account of Yourselves soon
in token you admit my Excuse for Silence --
once more Adieu -- Direct to me at the Abbey -- Edinburgh

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 1. Mrs Napier playfully uses the phrase Civil List, normally ‘recipients of state expenditure on civil administration’, in a literal sense, perhaps ‘list of correspondents that are civil to Mary Hamilton/that Mary Hamilton is civil to’.
 2. The young duke had died only the day before, to be succeeded by his younger brother, later to become a figure of dissipation and scandal.
 3. This dateline appears to the left of the signature.

Metadata

Library References

Repository: John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester

Archive: Mary Hamilton Papers

Item title: Letter from Mary Anne Napier to Mary Hamilton

Shelfmark: HAM/1/19/6

Correspondence Details

Sender: Lady Mary Anne Napier (née Cathcart)

Place sent: Edinburgh

Addressee: Mary Hamilton

Place received: Northampton

Date sent: 25 July 1769

Letter Description

Summary: Letter from Mary Anne Napier [later Lady Napier] to Mary Hamilton. She writes that she fears Hamilton will remove her from the 'Civill [sic] list' for not writing sooner, but she hopes that Hamilton knows how much she likes to receive news of her. Napier continues her letter with news of her health and her family. She also writes of the death of the young Duke of Hamilton, who was said to be 'a very Aimiable [sic] Youth & would proveably have made a fine figure in Liffe [sic]'. Napier notes that his death was expected by most people, with the exception of his own family. She describes the present Duke as a 'fine Lively Healthy Boy'. She also comments that 'Yesterday Mr Douglas gained his Law suit against Lord Selkirk', who had attempted to dispossess him.
    Dated at Abbey [Edinburgh].
   

Length: 1 sheet, 668 words

Transliteration Information

Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Image to Text' (David Denison & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2013-2019), now incorporated in the project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers' (Hannah Barker, Sophie Coulombeau, David Denison, Tino Oudesluijs, Cassandra Ulph, Christine Wallis & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2019-2023).

All quotation marks are retained in the text and are represented by appropriate Unicode characters. Words split across two lines may have a hyphen on the first, the second or both fragments (reco-|ver, imperfect|-ly, satisfacti-|-on); or a double hyphen (pur=|port, dan|=ger, qua=|=litys); or none (respect|ing). Any point in abbreviations with superscripted letter(s) is placed last, regardless of relative left-right orientation in the original. Thus, Mrs. or Mrs may occur, but M.rs or Mr.s do not.

Acknowledgements: XML version: Research Assistant funding in 2017/18 provided by the Department of Linguistics and English Language, University of Manchester.

Research assistant: Georgia Tutt, MA student, University of Manchester

Transliterator: Celeste Leonard, undergraduate student, University of Manchester (submitted May 2018)

Cataloguer: Lisa Crawley, Archivist, The John Rylands Library

Cataloguer: John Hodgson, Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Research Institute and Library

Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors

Revision date: 2 November 2021

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